The White Nebula - 214 Days
by sangheilitat117
Summary: Space!AU Whiterose fluff. 1000 years into the future, an immortal Ruby and Weiss are stranded in the void, and reflect upon their time with eachother.
1. Chapter 1 - The White Nebula

Space.

That endless, black ocean of emptiness. Man and Faunus sail through the void, plying the invisible stellar currents with great machines of magnificent power. In a time long past, man looked up at the stars and said to himself, "One day I will own these too."

That day has come, and passed. Space is no more strange to mankind than the oceans are to you and I. Countless generations have been born, were raised, and have died amongst the light of dying suns. When the history lessons tell them of a time when Man, Faunus, and Grimm were restricted to one small planet, orbiting a small main-sequence G2V star, they would shake their heads in wonder, that races so mighty could have come from beginnings so small. The Grimm were especially interesting to them, as they are now no more than a legend, a nightmare from a time of old. The Grimm went extinct long ago, you see.

The planet that birthed the two races would later come to be known as Earth, only to be renamed once more. It is currently known as Terra.

The year, you ask? The year is 1536, almost exactly a thousand years since the education of four huntresses, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake Belladonna. Almost exactly a thousand years since the four of them successfully graduated from Beacon Academy, and started hunting Grimm as fully fledged huntresses. Almost exactly a thousand years since they had slain the mythical Grimm Lord. The quest to find the Grimm Lord had been long and arduous, full of danger and adventure. It had taken Team RWBY nearly four years to finally track down the beast, after learning of his existence from an ancient tomb.

Ah, but that is a story for another time. When the Grimm Lord finally met its end at the hands of Team RWBY, something... miraculous happened. With its controlling and dominating presence gone from the minds of the Grimm, they went feral, insane even, and slaughtered each-other and themselves in blind fits of animal rage. Humans and Faunus rallied around this inexplicable event, and within a single year, the very last Grimm on the planet was hunted down, and ended. But that wasn't the only thing that had happened when the Grimm Lord died. No, something else far, far stranger had occurred.

The Grimm Lord was an incredibly powerful and magnificent beast, and its aura was powerful and potent beyond measure. Such a magnificent aura could not be ended by something as paltry as the death of the body it inhabited. So the aura had split and poured forth from the Grimm Lord as it died, seeking new vessels to inhabit. And it had found them, in the form of four young women standing before it. As it poured into the shocked members of Team RWBY, their wounds closed with a golden light, their fractured bones re-knit, and for a time, they seemed to glow, with an inner, golden light.

After much debate, and some not-so-well-thought-out experimentation by Ruby and Yang, the four girls had determined that the aura of the Grimm Lord had bestowed on them nigh-invincible powers of regeneration and healing. They never fell ill again, any wounds they received in battle healed almost instantaneously, and they found themselves possessed of uncommon strength and vigor. But still, that was not the strangest and most miraculous of the effects the Grimm Lord's aura had upon Team RWBY.

They began to notice it as the years dragged on, as their comrades, friends, and family grew old and aged, as was natural, and they stayed as young and beautiful as ever. No wrinkles, grey hair, or signs of aging in the slightest ever appeared on their features. When Ruby Rose looked at herself in the mirror on her 40th birthday, and saw that she looked just as she had at age 24, and that Weiss, Yang, and Blake all looked the same, she knew something was wrong. But like always, the four of them stuck together through thick and thin. They had formed an unbreakable bond. And some bonds between certain members of Team RWBY were stronger than others.

Weiss and Ruby had been dating since the end of their third year at Beacon, and Weiss, surprisingly, had been the one to propose to Ruby two years after their graduation from Beacon. She had taken up the mantle of CEO of Schnee Dust Company, after her father died of natural causes shortly thereafter. Ruby remained a full-time huntress, but they managed to work their schedules together. That is at least, until the hunt for the Grimm Lord drew all of Weiss' attention away from her work. But again, that is a story for a different time.

Yang and Blake had been dating longer than Ruby and Weiss had, but took longer to marry. It was only after the death of the Grimm Lord that Yang worked up the courage to propose to Blake. And now, the four of them were family, by law if not by blood. It had been difficult for them, to watch as their friends and family slowly withered and died in front of them, victims of old age and the ravages of time, while they stood by, never aging a single day. And so time passed on, without them.

On Ruby's 100th birthday, they were forced to accept that they had somehow been blessed with the gift of eternal life.

Ruby concealed her identity and took jobs working under different names. Weiss had long ago taken control of her company through go-betweens and foreign accounts, running it through proxy, since she could not remain CEO for a hundred years without drawing attention. Yang took to wearing a hood, to conceal her distinctive blonde mane. She absolutely refused to consider cutting it. Blake had the least difficulty out of the four of them; she was already used to wrapping herself in the cloak of the night. They traveled the world, living comfortably off of what was largely Weiss' money. But she was a shrewd businesswoman, and even without direct control of her company, Schnee Dust Industries, as it was now known, continued to thrive and prosper.

The years dragged on and on, humanity and faunus-kind made incredible scientific advances as they delved deeper into the mysteries of Dust, and eventually, the two races used it to launch themselves into the stars.

Times changed quickly. Star systems were discovered, stations were built, colonies were constructed on alien worlds. Human and faunus spread through the galaxy as quickly as they had spread across Earth. A new era of exploration had begun.

The four women had found spaceflight strange at first, but Ruby quickly fell in love with space travel, and subsequently became a master pilot. Her skills and reflexes behind the controls of a starship were without compare. Yang was the only one who never quite grew accustomed to it; she still hated space travel.

As weapons technology had advanced, and "mere mortals," as Yang jokingly referred to them, began to adopt the use of railgun and laser technology, the four women incorporated them into their own weaponry, while still maintaining their original forms. Crescent Rose now had an energized edge that could slice through the hull of a starship, and the built in sniper rifle was replaced with a small railgun, a weapon that uses incredibly powerful magnets to fire a solid projectile faster than the speed of sound. Weiss had sharpened Myrtenaster to microscopic levels of sharpness, and energized the blade similar to what Ruby did with Crescent Rose. Blake had modified Gambol Shroud's blade with modern metals, and replaced the ribbon with an incredibly light-weight flexible steel variant, that could act as cloth one second, and the next, when charged with a magnetic current, become as inflexible and strong as titanium. Yang had done to least to her gauntlets, Ember Celica, choosing only to augment them with an energy field that could disrupt solid mass. When activated, the energy field wreathed her gauntlets in anti-matter, and enabled her to punch through multiple layers of titanium with ease. The world mourned the day Yang Xiao Long had gained the ability to punch through walls.

Time dragged ever onwards, and as old professions died out, and new ones rose up to take their place, the girls realized that they needed new ways to occupy their time, if nothing else.

Blake and Yang took jobs as security contractors on frontier worlds across the galaxy, never staying in one place for long, but using their skills to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. They often refuse payment for their services.

Ruby, of course, wanted to be an interstellar bounty hunter more than anything else, and while it took a while for Weiss to warm to the idea, she eventually settled her accounts, split her massive fortune across multiple identities, and agreed to travel with Ruby. Together, the two of them ply the stars, tracking down convicted felons and bringing them to justice.

Which brings us to our current situation.

* * *

"RUBBYYYY!"

"Owowow, Weiss, what what what!" Ruby yelled back, wincing as the the personal communicator in her ear was filled with the sounds of Weiss' wrath. She sprinted through the gunmetal-grey corridors of the ISR _Rebellious Rose_, vaulting over sparking wiring and exposed metal plates, as explosions rocked the mid-sized frigate. Oil was splattered on her red overall top, underneath which she wore a grey undershirt and a pair of dark grey camouflage pants. She had changed the most out of Team RWBY, in the years before the Grimm Lord's aura had frozen their souls in time, for lack of a better metaphor. She was much taller than Weiss now, much to her chagrin, standing at 5 foot 8 inches. Her... chest has also grown considerably. Weiss didn't mind that part as much. The biggest difference, however, was the robotic arm where Ruby's left arm should be. It was smooth, sleek, and light-grey, almost silver. It matched the brunette's eyes. The result of an encounter with an alpha beowulf, many, many years in the past. Weiss had never truly forgiven herself about it, either. She had been the one forced to amputate Ruby's arm with Crescent Rose, after all. But that is a story for another time.

"Did you fix the FTL drive yet, you dunce!? I can't evade them for much longer!"

"Uh, y-yeah, it should work fine now! Be right up!"

Ruby dashed the last couple of metres to the cockpit ladder, climbed up it, and threw herself into the pilot's chair. The cockpit was small but not cramped, with two leather seats facing a glass viewport. Multiple screens and holographic displays were clustered around the pilot and co-pilot's seats, so that whoever was in them had access to everything they needed to know about the ship and what was around it.

Pressing a few buttons in rapid succession, she grasped the controls, as control of the ship transitioned from Weiss to her. Weiss was a decent pilot, but she had never quite taken to it like Ruby had. As the controls transitioned, explosions bursting around them, Ruby leaned over to the seat next to her and pressed a kiss to Weiss' cheek, who was wearing a simple white jumpsuit, her hair tied up into a tight ponytail.

"W-what! You dolt, they're still on us, and our shields are still down! Focus on flying, not me!"

"Unlike you," Ruby replied with a smirk, "I can do both."

With that, Ruby wrenched the controls sideways and downwards, sending the frigate into a spiral, beginning one of her favorite maneuvers. As she turned, she bled she ship's momentum into the prototype inertia-coils on the exterior of the ship, enabling her to turn more sharply than would normally be allowed by the laws of physics.

The three fighters on their tail attempted to follow, surprised by the sudden move. They slowed, as they tried to burn off enough speed to keep their turn tight enough to follow the _Rose_'s.

Finishing her downward spiral and follow-up turn, Ruby slammed on the reverse thrusters and wrenched the ship around, presenting the enemy fighters with a full frontal view of the _Rose_'s armaments. In their haste to match her speed and her physics-defying turn, they found themselves face to face with the gun batteries of the _Rose_. And they far outclassed the small weapons the fighters carried.

"Wrong move, sorry guys!" Ruby shouted with glee, as she unleashed banks of laser cannons and plasma missiles.

All three fighters were obliterated in an instant; the short-range attack ships weren't equipped with shields.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby shouted. "See Weiss? I told you we'd be fine."

Cycling a new rack of missiles into the launchers, Ruby checked the shields to make sure they were recharging as they should be. Satisfied, Ruby turned to look at her partner, only to see Weiss staring back at her, with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"What now?" Ruby sighed.

Weiss simply pointed out the viewscreen, keeping her eyes locked with Ruby's.

Ruby followed the direction of her finger, right to a group of four battleships approaching them at speed, disgorging a steady stream of attack fighters.

Blaring warnings began to sound, and Ruby slammed her fist onto the button that silenced them.

"Alright, so I forgot that short-range fighters need a point to launch from..."

"Typical," huffed Weiss, as she blew a strand of her from her face. "Unless you're feeling particularly suicidal today, and **don't** answer that with a yes, I'm going to plug in the coordinates for our FTL jump. We should be gone before they catch us. You... did fix the FTL drive, right?"

"Of course I did!" Ruby grinned sheepishly. "I mean, it looked fine when I was done with it."

"It better work..." Weiss mumbled under her breath. "There, coordinates are locked in. Now make the jump before they get any closer!"

Ruby crossed her fingers and toes, and pressed the button to activate the FTL drives. The ship rumbled, and the familiar sound of the FTL drives warming up was music to the two girl's ears. Ruby powered up the engines, flying away from the approaching battlegroup as fast as she could. They would easily outrun the battleships, but the swarm of fighters was a different matter.

"They're getting closer," Weiss said, her eyes glued to the ship's gravimetric radar screen.

"Oh yeah?" replied Ruby. "Watch this." She grasped the FTL drive activation lever and thrust it forward. With a whining noise, the FTL drive sputtered and died.

"Watch what?" Weiss said with a sigh.

"I think we're in trouble." Ruby said.

Weiss checked the FTL status on her holographic display, swiping her fingers across the icons and bringing the drive up.

"Great, the hyperdrive motivator's been damaged. It's impossible to go to lightspeed," Weiss said.

"We're in trouble," Ruby confirmed.

Weiss shook her head in exasperation, as Ruby attempted to outrun the pursuing fighters.

Tapping her chin in thought, an idea suddenly came to the white-haired girl.

"Ruby! The micro jump-drive! The one we just had installed!"

"Oh right!" Ruby shouted with glee. "I'd forgotten about it..."

Ruby looked at the many buttons on her control panel, and her expression of hope turned to one of confusion.

"Uh... which one was it again?"

"You dolt," Weiss said, as she reached over and indicated a button to the left of Ruby's chair. "That one."

"Oh, right! Heh heh. Anyway, here goes nothing!"

Weiss moved her left hand over, and placed it on top of Ruby's. The brunette turned her hand upward and entangled her fingers with Weiss', giving her hand a quick squeeze.

Ruby pressed the button to activate the micro jump-drive, a relatively new module designed for short-range, unplotted jumps, presumably to shake off any pursuers a vessel might have.

Right as the stars blurred into straight lines, signalling the jump, a well aimed railgun blast from one of the battleships slammed into the aft section of the _Rebellious_ _Rose_, jolting her off of her course. The starship flew forward all the same, exceeding the speed of light, and vanished into the gap between the stars.

* * *

Ruby awoke to a cockpit full of sparks and broken machinery, regaining consciousness with a jolt, and immediately reaching over to her right to check that Weiss was okay. Luckily, it seemed she had largely escaped injury, with only a large gash on her forehead to show for the crippling railgun strike they had taken. The gash was already glowing with a golden light, and sealing itself shut. Ruby closed her eyes and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. When she opened them again, she saw Weiss begin to come to.

Blinking her eyes rapidly, the white-haired girl glanced around and assessed their situation, eyes lingering on Ruby for a second longer than the rest of her surroundings.

"You dolt..." she moaned.

"Hey. You okay?" Ruby asked, concern evident in her voice. "I mean you look fine, but who knows if you damaged something internally, or maybe you broke a bone and don't know about it, or maybe you even have a concussion because sometimes the shock from a railgun blast can-"

Weiss placed her index finger over Ruby's lips, silencing the brunette's worried rambling.

"Hush. I'm fine." Weiss smiled at her over-protective wife. "Now, any idea where we are?"

"Oh, uh, I hadn't checked yet. I only woke up just before you did."

"Alright, I'll run a quick scan," Weiss said. "On the bright side, at least the navigation systems are still intact. Lots of other systems are down though, and I don't think we have the necessary parts to repair them by ourselves."

With a pleasant sounding chime, the navigation relay system signaled that it had confirmed their location.

Weiss stared at the display in disbelief.

"What, what is it?" Ruby asked, leaning over to try and get a better view.

"Ruby... please tell me that the micro jump-drive is rechargeable."

Ruby looked thoughtful for a second, and then replied. "Nope, if I remember correctly, they're a one-and-done kind of deal. It has to be swapped out at a repair station.

"Well then, we have a problem," Weiss said, as she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "A very, very big problem."

"I don't like the sound of that," Ruby winced.

"According to the star charts," Weiss said with a heavy sigh, "we're 7 months sub-FTL travel away from the nearest station. Or planet. Or moon, or anything for that matter. We're floating in the dead space between two systems. We're going to have to plot a course to the nearest station, and just drift there on whatever fuel is left."

"Oh, well that's not that bad."

"Not that bad?! Ruby, did your hearing get affected by that railgun? We're stuck drifting for at least 7 months! That's 214 days!"

"Weiss, we're immortal, remember? That just means we get a **lot** of alone time."

Ruby's wife squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists.

"You. Are. Absolutely. Insufferable."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Ruby said, as she leaned over and pecked Weiss on the lips.

Weiss sputtered and flailed. "Ruby! You're not taking this seriously enough!"

"Oh, but I think I am Princess. You just need to relax a bit. Look, we're out here all on our own, no one is going to find us. We've got 7 months alllll to ourselves, and honestly I don't see a downside to this situation."

As Ruby spoke, she moved her hands to Weiss' waist, and began attempting to unzip her jumpsuit.

Weiss realized what she was doing, and smacked her hands away. "Argh, that's it! You can fix the damn ship on your own, I'm locking myself in my room, and I'm not talking to you for an entire week!"

With that, she pushed herself up and out of her chair, and stormed down the corridor separating the cockpit from the rest of the frigate.

Ruby looked a little stung, but recovered quickly. "But Weiss!" she called after her. "That's my room too! Where am **I** gonna sleep?"

* * *

_Day 1  
_

Weiss sighed and rolled over on her bed, struggling to find a comfortable sleeping position for what seemed like the thousandth time. She couldn't sleep, and even though she knew the cause, she refused to acknowledge it.

Weiss and Ruby's shared living quarters was a moderate sized cabin, situated near the rear end of the _Rose_. The walls were made of a light gray metal, strong, but not cold to the touch, as most things were on a starship. There was only one entrance, and the wall opposite it was an armaglass viewport, boasting a crystal clear view of space from the inside, with retractable armored shutters that came down when the ship was a state of alert or combat. Against this viewport sat Ruby and Weiss' king-sized bed, decorated with red sheets and fluffy white pillows, both embroidered with designs of roses and snowflakes. Everything on the bed was as comfortable as money could buy, thanks to Ruby's influence. The brunette always did love to snuggle with her wife...

In truth, since she and Ruby had been wed almost a thousand years ago, she had found it impossible to sleep on her own. Over the years, she had grown used to Ruby's warmth and presence enveloping her as she slept. A sense of discomfort filled her as she turned over again, and was once again struck with the realization that the space beside her was empty. It had only been a day...

But she would not give in to the foul temptations of Ruby Rose. When she had pledged to not speak to Ruby for a week, she had meant it. Weiss Schnee did not give up. Ever. Ruby had tried knocking, she had tried speaking to Weiss through the door, she had even attempted to use the ships intercom to convince Weiss to let her in. But Weiss would not, could not give in. Even when-

***THUD***

Weiss jumped in surprise, as something struck the viewport, and she quickly turned to see what it was.

Plastered to the outside of the viewport by the force of her impact, was a very embarrassed looking Ruby Rose. Weiss sighed and smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. The lengths that her partner would go to just to get her attention...

Wait, how did she even manage to reach this side of the _Rose _while still attached to the safety tether on the opposite side?

_"Oh my god." _Weiss realized with a rush of panic. _"She's not wearing a tether line!"_

With no tether line securing Ruby to the ship, if she somehow lost her grip and floated away from the ship, there would be no way for her to get back. The _Rose_'s sensors were too damaged to detect an object as small as Ruby, and if she floated off into the void, she would likely be lost forever.

Weiss felt sick at the mere thought. She couldn't imagine her life without Ruby Rose in it.

Spurred into action, she stood up, wincing as the blood that had pooled in her legs rushed into the rest of her body. Staring straight into Ruby's eyes, she mouthed the words, "**DON'T MOVE**."

With that, she rushed out of the room as fast as she could, sprinting through the _Rose_'s corridors on her way to the hangar bay.

_"Good, at least that dunce remembered to close the hangar doors behind her."_

Moving to one side of the hangar, she quickly donned a spacesuit of her own and slammed her fist on the door release button, hanging on to the safety rails as the atmosphere vented from the bay. The hangar bay doors opened wide, and Weiss drifted out into the cold emptiness of space, making sure that her tether line was properly attached before continuing. She tried to ignore the terrifying feeling that came with seeing nothing but black emptiness all around her.

_"Gotta get to Ruby, gotta get to Ruby, come on Weiss, you can go faster than this!"_

Moving hand over hand, she grasped the hull of the _Rose _and flung herself towards a protruding sensor cluster, grabbing onto it, and repeating the process as she traveled towards the other side of the ship. Her progress was impeded by the fact that she had to stop every few dozen feet, to detach and re-attach the tether line to the various tether latches lining the outer hull. Finally, as she neared the other side of the small frigate, she caught a glimpse of Ruby's spacesuit.

Horror flooded her mind, as she realized that Ruby had somehow lost her grip, and was actually floating away from the _Rose_. She couldn't lose Ruby, not now, not ever.

Without a second thought, she attached the tether to a nearby tether latch, calculated her trajectory as best she was able, and flung herself out into empty space.

Luckily for her, Ruby was floating away slowly, and Weiss her predicted her movements almost perfectly. Holding her arms out in front of her, Weiss slammed into Ruby, unable to slow her movements. Hands scrabbled for purchase, and she managed to wrap her arms around Ruby's leg, and Ruby reached over and managed to grab onto Weiss' leg as well. Flipping Ruby around, she turned her over so that they were face to face, floating alone in the silent void. She grasped Ruby's arms tighter than she ever had before, afraid that if she were to loosen her grip, Ruby would slip away and be lost forever. That thought terrified her more than anyone else.

Ruby couldn't talk to her, but Weiss could see the look of love and gratitude in her wife's eyes. Funny, here they were, surrounded by an endless sea of stars and glowing nebulae, and the only thing Weiss could stare at were Ruby's gorgeous grey eyes. They were like storm fronts approaching on the distant horizon, foreboding and mysterious. And then the shades of grey seemed to shift, and Weiss could see summer rain showers, comforting and warm.

Weiss was startled out of her reverie as Ruby tapped on Weiss' faceplate, smiling sweetly.

She shook her head, and held up three fingers to Ruby, indicated that she should switch her communicator to local channel 3.

There was a crackle of static, and then Ruby's voice filled her ears, and the sound of it after so long caused her heart to start pounding almost painfully in her chest.

"Hey there snow angel. You all right? You were just uh, staring at me for a while there."

Weiss remembered why she had come out there in the first place, and Ruby was startled as the look of relief on her partners face changed to one of anger.

"You absolute, total, completely incompetent, insufferable dolt! What the hell were you thinking, spacewalking without a tether?!"

"Oh, you're upset about that? Relax Weiss, I'm fine, you caught me right? Nothing to worry about."

Weiss shook her head in exasperation, struggling to convey her feelings to her wife.

"No, there is something to worry about! You! What if... what if I had lost you? What if you had floated away, and I hadn't been able to find you? What then, huh?"

Ruby simply looked shocked, unable to find the words to respond.

Weiss blinked back tears, as she started to realize how foolish she had been for refusing to talk to her wife. Even if she was simply being stubborn and prideful, she had let it almost separate the two of them, forever.

"Y-you're the most important thing to me in this entire universe, and if I lost you... I just don't know what I'd do. I don't think I'd want to live anymore, if it's without you at my side. I just... I just can't lose you. Okay?"

Ruby simply nodded her head in acceptance, and wrapped her arms around Weiss as tight as she could. The spacesuits they were wearing prevented them from feeling the others warmth, and the electric feeling of Ruby's skin on her own, but the gesture was not lost on Weiss.

The white-haired girl took one last look around at the endless expanse of stars, and pulled out of the embrace, making sure to keep a firm hold of Ruby's arm with one of her own.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get back inside."

* * *

_Day 4_

"I love you."

"I love you more," replied Weiss.

The two of them lay side by side on their bed, safely back aboard the _Rebellious Rose_.

"Oh ho ho, I doubt that. You're the perfect snow angel, flawless and beautiful, and yet you saw fit to come down from the heavens and focus your attention on me, just a nervous young girl trying to be a huntress. If we're anything like the stories say, I should be madly in love with you, and I'd feel happy if you happened to even notice me. You have to be all distant and cold, remember? I'm just the poor orphan girl, and you're beautiful and immaculate Ice Queen. Emphasis on beautiful, by the way."

Ruby leaned forward and kissed Weiss to emphasize her point, drawing back to continue speaking before Weiss could fully return the kiss, leaving her flustered and blushing madly.

"To me, you'll always be this perfect, untouchable angel. Yet, somehow, you chose to love me. And you stayed with me, crazy, clumsy, imperfect Ruby Rose, when you could have left me at any time and had any woman or man on the planet with a snap of the finger. And for that, Weiss Schnee, for choosing to love me back, I will always love you more than life itself."

Weiss giggled as she ran her fingers through Ruby's brown and red hair, shifting her legs to further entangle them with her wife's.

"Ugh, since when did you get this romantic? I think I felt my heart melt just then."

"What can I say?" whispered Ruby, as she leaned forward again for another kiss. "You inspire me, I guess."

Weiss sighed and wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist, before leaning forward to whisper into her wife's ear. "Well that crazy declaration of love you just gave has inspired something else, if you catch my meaning."

Ruby grinned involuntarily. "Oh, has it? And what exactly have I inspired with my oh-so-sweet and honeyed words?"

"You know exactly what," Weiss whispered into Ruby's ear. She then bit down on her earlobe softly, just enough to tease. "Don't play games with me, Ruby Rose, or else this will be a long night for you."

Ruby whimpered as she felt Weiss run her tongue over and around her ear, knowing she had already lost this game they were playing. A thousand curses upon Weiss and her knowledge of Ruby's most sensitive spots.

It was going to be a long night for Ruby indeed.

* * *

_Day 27_

Ruby groaned as she shuffled over to the ship's kitchen, a red comforter from the bed wrapped around her shoulders. They had turned off the heating to the _Rose_ a few days ago, and Ruby was no fan of the cold. And it _was_ cold, miserably so.

Her nostrils twitched as they detected the mouth-watering scent of bacon, ears perking up at the same time as she heard something sizzling on the frying pan.

_"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod Weiss is making bacon yes yes yes! Aauuughhgh I love her..."_

Ruby turned the corner to the kitchen, and saw Weiss standing over the old-fashioned gas stove they had installed. Sure, other, newer, more efficient technologies were available, but Ruby had insisted on buying an old gas stove. Bacon just didn't taste the same when it was cooked with searing plasma or microwaves.

Ruby grinned as she realized that Weiss hadn't noticed Ruby's arrival, and so she carefully slipped around the small table in the middle of the room and snuck up behind her wife.

"BOO!" She shouted, wrapping her arms around Weiss' waist at the same time, to prevent her from jumping backwards and spilling the bacon.

But Weiss made no reaction at all. She simply continued moving the bacon around the frying pan, making sure it was being cooked perfectly, and not being burnt.

"I heard you the moment you entered the hallway outside, you dolt. You're not as quiet as you think.

"Awww, but I thought I had you this time..." Ruby pouted. "I even- *mmmph!*"

Ruby squealed as Weiss shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth.

Weiss smirked as she watched Ruby struggle to chew and swallow the strip of perfectly cooked pork.

"Boo."

* * *

_Day 36_

Ruby slowly awoke to the warm, incredibly feeling of Weiss' body pressed against her own. She never grew tired of it. Wrapping her arms tighter around her wife's waist, Ruby buried her head in Weiss' hair, moving one of her hands upward to run her fingers through it.

Weiss groaned as she was slowly forced back into the waking world of consciousness. She smiled softly as she felt Ruby playing with her hair.

"Good morning gorgeous."

"You're only saying that because you want me to stay in bed with you," Weiss huffed in reply.

"Weeeelllll, it's not like we have anything to do. The _Rose _is going to continue on this course until we reach the Akiainavas system, right? Do you really want to get up and sit around with nothing to do? Or would you rather snuggle with me?"

Ruby kissed her wife's shoulder to emphasize her point.

"Hmmph. I guess I see your point. But when we get up, we're going to clean up the ship and organize the cargo bay, alright?"

"Ugh, but it's already organizzeedddd..."

"Not to _my_ standards it's not. Now come on, back to sleep."

Weiss turned herself over, burying her face in the crook of Ruby's neck and nuzzling it until she was comfortable.

Ruby smiled as she felt the warmth of the white-haired girl on her neck.

"But if I fall asleep again, how am I gonna enjoy having you in my arms?" She asked innocently.

"Just shut up and go back to sleep." Weiss said, as she kissed Ruby's neck.

Ruby giggled and focused on the sensations of warmth and love she was feeling for her wife, knowing that they were reciprocated in kind.

The brunette shifted ever so slightly, and was on the verge of sleep, when she decided to take one last glance at Weiss, to burn her figure into her mind, so she could dream about her while she slept. Which normally happened anyway. Over the years their auras had fused, melded together as one. A few different things happened as a result. They could sense each-others presence, and could pick up basic emotions from one another. Their auras were also much stronger when they were close. If they were apart for too long, they would begin to feel a sense of unease, like something was just _wrong_ with the world. And as a consequence of their souls becoming one, they almost always dreamed about each-other.

But as Ruby glanced at her wife, what she saw filled her with trepidation. Weiss was staring down at Ruby's robotic arm, an expression of unrest on her face.

The brunette reached up to Weiss' face and turned her head so that her eyes met.

"Hey, look at me. I told you to forget about that. It wasn't your fault. I can't forgive you for it, because I never blamed you in the slightest. Not that I wouldn't forgive you if it was your fault, but I mean I just... ugh, listen, please let it go?"

"I know Ruby, but... that's harder to do than it sounds. It's not like I haven't tried before. I just feel... guilty when I look at it."

"Oh come on Weiss, don't be that way. I think it's awesome, I get to punch walls, and trees, and people, and not feel a thing! Plus, have you ever blocked a sword with nothing but your arm? I bet you havennnnn't."

Weiss couldn't help herself, and a small grin slipped onto her pale features.

"No, I can't say I have Ruby," she said with a giggle.

Ruby leaned over to whisper in Weiss' ear. "Cuz it's _awesome_."

Weiss tightened her hold on her wife. "Just go back to sleep, you dunce."

"Alright, but don't let me catch you staring at my arm again. Otherwise... I'll have to punish you."

"R-Ruby!"

* * *

_Day 59_

Ruby wiped the grease on her hands onto her red work overalls, giving a sigh of relief as she carefully worked her way out of the tangle of pipes and machines in the _Rose_'s engine room. A small frigate like the _Rebellious Rose _was small compared to other ships, but was still much larger than a single or multi-man fighter craft.

Frigates typically were meant to carry a crew of 5 to 10, with an engine room, a small hangar and storage bay, a kitchen and recreational area, and any number of other rooms used for various things such as observations rooms, rooms with dedicated communications or scanning suites, or rooms filled with advanced technology such as cloaking devices, sensor probe launcher units, even small storage bays for the storage of ore and materials. They were mostly used for transportation or scouting purposes, light skirmish combat, or high-speed pursuits. Frigates came in many classes and designations, there were frigates made for scouting, mining, hauling, and many different types of combat. Some specialized frigates were even made for stealth bombing; frigates like that were equipped with advanced cloaking device units. Others were made for full-frontal heavy combat, such as assault frigates.

The _Rebellious Rose_ was an Interceptor-class combat frigate, built to reach incredible speeds that other ships could not while still packing enough of a punch for light combat once it reached its intended target. Their _modus operandi_, once a target was tracked down and identified, was to close at extreme speed, orbit at close range to evade fire from large-class weapons, and scramble the target's FTL drives so that they couldn't warp away. Some were even equipped with specialized interdiction modules such as target locking jammers which scrambled a ships targeting computers, or webbing devices which entangled a ship in heavy particles that slowed it down and prevented it from making high-speed turns. The _Rose _had all of these, and it was build from the prototype hull of a Raven-class interceptor, a design that had never been publicly released. In other words, it was a bounty hunters dream ship.

Ruby sighed as she admired her ship, running her hands along the smooth metal of the engine room walls. She fancied that she could hear the engine purring, the thrum of its systems an artificial heartbeat. She loved it more than anything else, except for her wife of course. Oh, and there was Crescent Rose too...

The _Rose_ was feared and admired all across the galaxy, but only by those who actually knew of its existence. Weiss and Ruby weren't the most famous bounty hunters, but they were the best. And they aimed to keep it that way. They tried to draw as little attention as possible, using false names, changing identities every century or so. They didn't want anyone to find out they were immortal; they didn't want the attention such a revelation would bring, both good and bad. There were evil people all across the galaxy that would pay dearly to discover the secret to immortality, even if they had to kill the two of them in the process. Weiss and Ruby didn't know if they could die, their wounds had never been enough to kill them, even when they had been covered in horrible gashes and lacerations. Any wound, even broken bones and snapped spines had always healed impossibly fast. They weren't sure if they _could_ be killed. But they weren't about to test the theory.

They treasured each-other far too much to risk intentionally putting themselves into harm's way.

Ruby didn't think she would have the strength to go on if Weiss died, the only reason she had been able to carry on through a thousand years of living, of having to leave her friends and watch them die, of seeing her world dissolve and everything change, was because she had Weiss by her side.

_"Heck, the only reason I'm still sane after so long is probably just because of her... Weiss, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you..." _

Ruby leaned against the wall and contemplated just how much Weiss meant to her. It brought a smile to her face, but still a small nagging voice in the back of her head simply refused to be put down. Did she mean as much to Weiss?

* * *

_Day 60_

"There you are."

Ruby nearly jumped off the black leather couch she was sitting on, as she turned around to see Weiss leaning against the door frame of the port observation room dressed in a pair of black pants and a white tank top. Her snow white hair was long and loose, cascading down her shoulders to her waist. The sight of her made Ruby's heart pound in her chest.

_"Hng, why do she have to look so beautiful no matter what she wears?"_

"I haven't seen you all day," Weiss said. "Have you been in here?"

"Oh uh, yeah pretty much. I've just been looking out at this white nebula. I forget its name though."

Weiss walked over to the couch Ruby was sitting on; it was the only piece of furniture in the observation room. The room was empty, and the wall facing away from the ship was a giant armored window, with an amazing view of the expanse of space beyond it. The stars twinkled and shined, but the white nebula in the center of the viewport stole the show. It was slightly shaped like a blooming flower, with lighter shades of white on the inside, almost grey near the edges. It looked massive from this distance, but even still, it was hard for Weiss to imagine that it contained millions of stars and planets. Space never failed to fascinate her with it's sheer vastness and ethereal beauty.

Sitting down next to Ruby, she leaned her head against the brunette's shoulder and joined her in gazing out at the infinite abyss.

Ruby was being uncharacteristically quiet. Weiss knew that meant something was on her mind. Something important.

"That's not all you've been doing, just staring at that nebula, is it? You're thinking about something."

Ruby simply nodded.

"You know you can tell me anything Ruby, what is it?"

"It's just..." Ruby sighed. "Weiss... do you ever get... tired of me?"

Weiss' eyes went wide with shock, but Ruby continued before she could stop her.

"I mean I know I can be clumsy and annoying sometimes, and honestly a thousand years is a huge amount of time to spend with one person, even if you love them, and sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough for you, and maybe I don't know, you need a break from me, because maybe you're bored of me and you need some time alone, and if you do that's totally okay with me even if you-"

Weiss stopped the brunette's rant by pressing her lips to Ruby's with passion. She tilted her head and leaned into it, attempting to channel all of her love for Ruby into that one kiss, how thankful she was for her wife, how grateful she was that she had stayed with her for a thousand years. How much she treasured her Ruby Rose.

She broke the kiss when her chest started to hurt, her lungs crying out for air. She leaned back and stared into Ruby's eyes. The brunette looked shocked and flustered, at a loss for words.

"Oh. Uh... oh," she managed to stutter.

Weiss took her wife's head in her hands and pressed it to her chest, forcing Ruby to listen to her heartbeat. Whenever Ruby was anxious or nervous about something, listening to Weiss' heart beating always kept her grounded and calmed her down. Weiss took a moment to gather her thoughts and her breath, as she stared out at the white nebula in the vast distance before her.

"Ruby Schnee, listen to me."

Ruby had never officially taken Weiss' last name, but saying it like that always served the calm the brunette down, a spoken reminder that they were together.

Ruby moved her arms to wrap them around Weiss' waist and squeezed her tightly, as if she was afraid that if she let go, Weiss would disappear.

"Darling, I have loved you for a thousand years. I will love you for a thousand more. And even more beyond that. You never judge me, you never take me for granted, even when I act like a bitch, which I admit... _can_ happen, on occasion. You've always been there for me, no matter what happened. When I tried to push you away with all my might, unsure of my feelings for you, you stayed with me, no matter how horribly I treated you. When I accepted my feelings for you and asked you to come back, you came running to me when you had every right to turn me down and send me away. When my father disowned me, you were there for me. When we fought against the White Fang and everything else that Vytal could throw at us, you were there for me. You were my first friend, and for a long time, my only friend. You... well you taught you me how to live. You broke me out of that icy shell I had built up. When you lost your arm and I disappeared into the mountains, you searched for me until you found me, and you brought me back. And when we grew old, and everyone else we knew died and the world changed in strange and terrifying ways, you were there for me. You were my first love. And you still are."

Ruby shuddered softly in against Weiss' chest, and the white-haired girl realized that Ruby was crying softly. Ruby never cried anymore, this was rare. But Weiss had known Ruby for long enough to know that they were tears of happiness and relief. So she continued, rubbing Ruby's back in slow circles.

"If I'm the Ice Queen, then you're my knight in shining armor, always there for me, always ready to protect me, no matter the cost to your own self. You're the most caring, selfless, impossibly beautiful person I've ever met. And I'm just glad that I met you Ruby Rose, and that you gave me a chance, and took the time to see me for who I really was, not just the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. No one like you has ever existed, and no one ever will again. And I'm just infinitely grateful that you're mine, and I'm yours. I will never, _ever_, grow tired of you. The stars will burn out and die, every single one, and the universe will freeze over before I might _possibly_ feel an _inkling _that I know you well enough to let you go."

Weiss leaned her head down and kissed the top of Ruby's head, soft and sweetly.

"I will never, ever let you go. I promise. I love you."

Ruby looked up at Weiss, who smiled sweetly back down at her. The brunette's stormy gray eyes were glistening with tears, and she leaned up and kissed Weiss with fervor.

"I love you too."

Ruby turned around, keeping her arms around Weiss' waist, but moving so that she could join her wife in gazing at the white nebula.

"Hey Weiss, I remembered what the nebula is called."

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm, it's the Gardenia nebula. Named after the white flower of the same name. It's really gorgeous. Just like you."

Weiss chuckled and leaned down to kiss Ruby again, this time on the lips.

"You know," Ruby said, "We still have almost a hundred and fifty days left together. Does that bother you at all?"

"Ruby, I meant what I said. I will never get tired of you. It's kind of nice really, not having to worry about anything at all, just us drifting slowly together through space. The view is nice too."

"Yeah, that nebula is really pretty."

Weiss scoffed. "Idiot, I was talking about you!"

Ruby laughed, a rich, warm sound that Weiss loved hearing. "Weiss, was that an attempt at flirting? You are sooooo cute!"

She squeezed her arms tighter around her wife, and Weiss found it difficult to breathe.

"Stop squeezing so tight you dunce! Fine, see if I ever try it again," she pouted.

"No no no, I mean... it was cute Weiss. Really. Please do it more?" She put on her infamous puppy-dog face, the one she knew Weiss couldn't resist.

The white-haired girl tried to stare at the Nebula, anywhere but Ruby, but she could feel her willpower breaking down.

One glance was all it took. "Ugh... fine. You really are beautiful though, don't ever forget it," Weiss said. "Even if I... don't really say it enough. Please don't even think I'm taking you for granted, okay?"

"Okay Weiss, I won't," Ruby said with a smile that stretched across her face.

They sat there for a while, simply enjoying the feeling of being in the arms of someone else that loved them unconditionally, and romantically, even after a thousand years. The feeling was unlike anything else that had ever existed.

"Hey Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah Snow Angel?"

"Do you remember back in Beacon, when told me how great it would to be lost at sea with me, and I told you how silly that was?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well look where we are now. Lost at sea, for a long time, just the two of us. And I look forward to spending every single day with you."

Ruby looked up at Weiss with a warm and loving smile.

And in her smile, Weiss saw something more beautiful that all the stars in the universe.

* * *

_"The level of matter in the universe has been constant since the Big Bang. In all the aeons we have lost nothing, we have gained nothing - not a speck, not a grain, not a breath. The universe is simply a sealed, twisting kaleidoscope that has reordered itself a trillion trillion trillion times over. Each baby, then, is a unique collision - a cocktail, a remix - of all that has come before: made from molecules of Napoleon and stardust and comets and whale tooth; colloidal mercury and Cleopatra's breath: and with the same darkness that is between the stars between, and inside, our own atoms. When you know this, you suddenly see the crowded top deck of the bus, in the rain, as a miracle: this collection of people is by way of a starburst constellation. Families are bright, irregular-shaped nebulae. Finding a person you love is like galaxies colliding."_ - _Caitlin Moran_

_**THIS**_ IS_** CANON. Anyone who tries to tell me this is not canon, will be hunted down and sent to a Russian labor camp for the rest of their short lives. I can totally write more of this, maybe even some space Bumblebee if you guys want. Just let me know in the reviews. Also, props to you if you recognized the Star Wars reference. And yes, I basically copied the technology in the ships straight from EVE Online. It just makes so much sense, I think in the future ships will actually function like they do in EVE. ANYWAYYYY, please leave a review, and let me know if you want me to keep writing this.**_


	2. Chapter 2 - The Golden Star

Dawn on the planet Kalidor.

The pale morning sunlight peeks over the mountain ridge, rising upwards ever so slowly, banishing more and more of the shadows of the night. The dark green evergreen trees clinging to the slopes of the ridges and valleys take on a strange hue as their shadows play upon each-other. A cold mist hangs in the air, not yet dispelled by the rays of sunlight. Or at least, the rays of pale blue that passed for sunlight in the Kaunokka system. Instead of a warm, yellow sun, the Kaunokka system boasted a star of pale blue, and while the sunlight illuminated the area, it almost seemed to make things colder. K4526, or "Oceania," as the locals dubbed it, was an B-Type main-sequence star with an incredibly high surface temperature of almost 20,000K, which made it appear a pale blue color, which in turn tinted the light it gave off in the same manner.

It gave the whole scene an empty, lonely feel to it. Or at least, that's how it felt to the woman standing on the mountain ridge, watching the rising star with a mixture of sadness and wonder.

She gazed out upon the expanse of blue-tinted evergreens from her position high atop one of the tallest mountains in the range.

"Nothing this beautiful should feel this sad..." she said out loud, to no one in particular.

With that, Yang Xiao Long turned around and began the long trek down to her small camp, letting her hand drag across the rough bark of the tree she had been standing next to.

Even though the mountain range seemed melancholy and depressing, inside, she was happy and content, no matter her surroundings. Living for a thousand years brought that sort of perspective with it. Besides, she had someone waiting for her back at her camp. The source of her happiness.

* * *

"Blaaakeeyy... wake up kitty-cat. I'm cooking breakfast... even got some tuna for you!"

Yang said all of this with a bright smile on her face as she knelt next to the large sleeping bag she and Blake shared while they were in the field. Their makeshift camp, consisting of the sleeping bag, two packs, and a small crackling fire in it's infancy, was located in a small clearing. The ground there had been even enough for Blake to consider it as a resting place for the night. They were surrounded by evergreens on all sides, the pale blue sunlight peeking through the branches here and there.

Upon the mention of her favorite food, Blake lifted her head out of the small hole in the top of the black sleeping bag, her faunus ears twitching as they adjusted to the sudden drop in temperature. She scowled as she realized that now that she was "up," Yang wouldn't let her go back to sleep.

"Cmon Blake, it's not thaaat cold."

"Easy for you to say," she mumbled. "Not all of us have an aura that functions as a space heater on the side..."

"True, but that's why I wrap you up all nice and tight every night. The perks of being married to Yang Xiao Long are many."

"They're not always perks, you big blonde doofus. You think I like it when guys stare at your chest?"

Yang gasped in mock offense. "The nerve of this girl! Here I am, cooking you breakfast, while you sit there all nice and warm in **our** sleeping bag! I even woke you up with a kiss!"

"You did not. In fact, you didn't even-"

Before Blake could continue, Yang darted forward and captured Blake's lips with her own, drawing her into a long and passionate kiss.

Blake let out an involuntary moan as she struggled up into a sitting position, maintaining the kiss as she did so. When Yang pulled away, her faunus ears were folded back on her head and there was a light dusting of pink on her cheeks.

The blonde woman smiled, her grin seeming to stretch for miles. She was obviously quite pleased with herself.

"Did so."

Blake sighed and got up, removing herself from the sleeping bag and shivering as the frigid air met her bare skin. Her black tail swished around as it was finally freed from its confinement. She was only wearing a black tank top and a pair of boxer briefs; extra clothes only prevented body heat from warming up the interior of a sleeping bag. Yang could easily warm the inside up on her own, with her fiery aura, but there was also the fact that Blake liked to feel her wife's skin against her own as she slept. Yang would have been completely comfortable in the nude, but Blake made sure she at least preserved some of her modesty. Which of course, was a constant source of complaint from the blonde.

"That kiss doesn't prove anything, you know," the faunus said. She was unwilling to admit defeat so easily.

"It proves everything I need it to."

"Which is?"

Yang smiled knowingly. "That you _loooooove_ me."

"Don't push your luck, sunshine." But try as she might, Blake was unable to keep a small grin from forming on her feline features. Her amber eyes met Yang's lilac purple ones, and when Yang started to chuckle, Blake was forced to join in. There was just something so contagious about the blonde's natural cheeriness. Not that Blake would ever admit it to anyone but her wife.

Yang turned her attention back to the fire, lifting the small frying pan off of the wire frame it was sitting on, sizzling sausage, fried eggs, and seared tuna contained inside. The aroma was absolute heaven to Blake's heightened sense of smell.

"Now hurry up and eat your breakfast before it gets cold. We have to start the hike back to Jericho's Reach anyway. We're not that far out though, we should make it by noon." She glanced towards the horizon, shielding her eyes from the glare of the rising blue sun. "Well, probably," she added.

As she said this, Yang used a plastic fork to place a few pieces of tuna and a few eggs on a paper plate, which she handed to Blake, who had just finished putting on her clothes. A pair of dark brown cargo pants, and a long-sleeved black shirt, with a dark green hoodie over it. The cold air forced her to dress warmly. Yang. on the other hand, could have strolled around in her bra and panties and not been affected by the cold in the slightest. Instead though, the blonde was dressed in a muted green t-shirt and a pair of tan shorts. At least she had made an attempt to blend in with their environment. It was more than she normally did. She was, however, wearing a brown hoodie over the shirt. She refused to cut or trim her distinctive blonde mane, but she settled for covering it in public, which the hoodie accomplished. The pair tried to remain unrecognized as they traveled from world to world; they didn't want anyone to find out that they were immortal. That particular revelation would bring a lot of attention with it, the bad kind mostly.

"Probably? Mmm, thank you," Blake said as she accepted the plate of food. "Probably means almost definitely not, when it comes to you. You'll get distracted by something."

"Blake, the only distracting thing around here is your gorgeous face."

Blake coughed, and had to cover her hand with her mouth to prevent food from flying out of it. Chewing carefully, then swallowing, she narrowed her eyes at Yang, a look of disdain on her face.

"You think you're _soooo_ damn smooth, don't you."

Yang smirked. "Smooth enough for you."

"I...you're impossible." Blake looked down at her food in defeat. Yang did have a point. The game-winning point, as far as the blonde was concerned. Yang stood up as the faunus finished her breakfast, walking over to her pack and pulling out her trusty gauntlets, Ember Celica. Slipping them under the sleeves of her hoodie and attaching them to her wrists, she picked up her wooden hunting rifle and slung it over her back. Others might have used a newer model, perhaps a laser rifle or a needle rifle, but Yang liked to do things the old fashioned way. She loved the crack the round made as it flew from the barrel, and the smell of the gunpowder it left behind. She walked over to their sleeping bag and rolled it up, stuffing it into her pack just right, with an ease borne from hundreds of years of experience in the field. She turned back to Blake, who was just finishing her breakfast.

"Come on Blake, we've been patrolling this mountain range for a week, and I want to get back to a soft bed. The sooner we start back, the sooner we get there. Who knows, maybe the Albertsons will have a hot meal waiting for us too."

* * *

As Blake predicted, the hike back to the settlement they were providing security for lasted much longer than Yang had said it would. They trekked through the woods, eventually ending up walking along the coastline of one of Kalidor's many oceans. It rained frequently on Kalidor, and the sky was almost always filled with dark grey clouds. Yang didn't mind; it served to block out Oceania's unnerving blue sunlight.

The sky was a dark, deep grey, and it matched the color of the oceans, so much so that as Blake and Yang looked out towards the horizon, one couldn't tell where the ocean ended and the sky began.

"It has a certain... beauty to it, don't you think?" Blake said, as the pair stood on a tall cliff overlooking the shore.

"If you're into that sort of dark, brooding thing, I guess. It would probably make me feel all gloomy, if you weren't here."

Yang shifted a little closer to Blake, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Blake rested her head on the blonde's shoulder. The two had grown before the Grimm Lord's aura had basically frozen their bodies in time; Yang now stood at a tall 5 feet and 9 inches, while Blake was slightly shorter at 5 foot 6 inches.

"Kinda looks like space, doesn't it?" said Yang.

"I don't follow."

"I mean, the way the sky and the ocean blend together, it's like looking out into something infinite. Just like space. Something vast and empty. Makes ya think."

"Hmm. About what?"

"How lucky I am that I'll always have you here with me," Yang replied.

The blonde shifted her head to place a kiss on Blake's cheek.

"You can be really romantic when you want to. I'm swooning over here," Blake said with a chuckle.

"Seriously though Blake, thank you for staying with me. No matter how cold and empty the galaxy is, I'll never be cold and empty inside." Yang tightened her grip around Blake. "And it's because of you."

Blake smiled and began to purr lightly. "Not that I mind, but where is this coming from? You always get like this, towards the end of the year."

Blake's ears perked up as she listened to the waves lapping against the shore below them.

Yang's voice took on a soft tone, something that Blake didn't hear a lot, and that filled her with concern.

"I just start thinking about this stuff sometimes. Can you imagine how lonely it would be, to live forever all by yourself? Watching everyone around you die, over and over again? Knowing that no matter what, you'll have to watch everyone you care for just, fade away? I honestly consider myself the luckiest girl in the universe, Blake. I get to spend a million lifetimes with you. And still, I don't think it'll ever be enough."

"Yang, you'd better stop now."

The blonde looked at her in surprise. "Stop? What did I do wrong?"

"I mean you'd better stop saying things like that, unless you want me to pin you against that tree over there and fuck your brains out."

Yang's expression quickly turned into one of relief, and she raised one of her eyebrows and shifted her head, to whisper into one of Blake's faunus ears.

"Oh, did I get you all excited? Feeling frisky, kitty-cat?"

Yang nibbled the faunus' ear, eliciting a moan from the raven-haired girl.

"Mmm, I think I'll take you up on that offer."

* * *

A few hours later, after some... "stress relieving activities," Blake informed Yang that they were only a few miles from the settlement.

Yang wrapped her arms around herself and shook back and forth. "Oooh, I just wanna get a soft bed, and some nice blankets, and a bunch of huge pillows, and just grab you and throw you into them and wrap you up in my arms, and fall asleep, just like that."

"I'd be lying if I said I was opposed to that idea," Blake replied with a small grin.

"And then when we wake up, we can grab some coffee, and-"

"Yang, wait, do you smell that?" Blake lifted her head into the air a bit as her sensitive faunus nose picked up a strange scent.

"Um, no, I don't smell anything but the trees and the ocean. Why, what is it?"

"I smell..." Blake's eyes went wide as she recognized the scent. "Smoke!"

"Smoke? So what, someone's got a fire going near here?"

"No Yang, if I can smell it from this far away, that means there's a lot of it!" The faunus narrowed her eyes in the direction the sickly aroma was coming from. "Look, there's smoke in the distance!"

Yang followed her gaze, as she too, saw the dirty brown smoke in the air, far from them.

"That's coming from Jericho's Reach!" she exclaimed, concern evident in her eyes.

"Yang, let's go, now!" Blake grabbed Yang's hand and pulled her into a sprint, as they began racing down the makeshift trail towards the settlement.

* * *

"Who would... who would do this?" Blake said softly.

The pair stood upon a tall hill that overlooked the remains of the settlement, as it burned to the ground, agonizingly slowly. Jericho's Reach had been a relatively small town on a frontier world, but it had still housed almost five hundred people. Prefabricated homes, stores, market stalls, everything was ablaze.

"I think I know who," said Yang, burning anger evident in her voice. She pointed to a large black banner planted in the ground in front of the town, emblazoned with a single red fang.

"Red Fang..." Blake narrowed her eyes.

A few hundred years after Team RWBY had slain the Grimm Lord, the White Fang had disbanded, as civil rights movements gained power, and faunus and humans finally reached the equality they had been striving for. With nothing to crusade against, and no grievances to hold against humanity, the pro-faunus, anti-human terrorist group had quietly disappeared into the background of everyday life. For a while, there was peace. But history likes to repeat itself.

As spaceflight was discovered, and new worlds were colonized, people began to argue over territorial rights, and on isolated backwater worlds, old hatreds were brought to the fore. Humans began discriminating against faunus again, and the faunus fought back. Riots, bombings, murders in the streets. And eventually the strife and conflict spread from the isolated worlds where it had started, to the bustling trade worlds, large cities and big governments that people felt safe in.

Now, things were back to the way they used to be. Faunus were second-class citizens. And in response to this, the White Fang was reborn, as the Red Fang. At first, they staged protests and tried to work things out in a peaceful manner, but as always, that never worked. When they discovered peace wasn't accomplishing anything, they turned to violence. They waged war on the discriminatory governments of the large trade worlds, bombing stations, crashing transport freighters, even guiding rocket-propelled asteroids into large cities. The death tolls were astounding. And as the humans cracked down on the faunus in retaliation, the Red Fang's support base only grew. New recruits flooded in all across the galaxy. Still, most faunus simply tried to stay out of the Red Fang's way, but to the Red Fang, there were only two types of faunus. Those that supported them, and those that were against them. And so they started killing their own kind, those they deemed lapdogs of the humans that they hated so much. They were indiscriminate in their attacks. And the galaxy burned for it.

Yang and Blake had dropped their packs and walked down the hill, to the banner that the Red Fang had placed. Next to it there was a metal sign. Yang walked up to it and read it aloud.

"And so, we take action against those that would see us in chains. These humans exploited their faunus neighbors, and worse, our faunus brethren allowed it. Thus, they have all paid for their crimes. We consign this village to oblivion. May our brethren find peace, freed from the yoke of human oppression. Hail the Red Fang!"

Yang read the last part of the sign in a quiet tone, her eyes ablaze with rage. Her aura was activated slightly, and dust and ash swirled around her in a miniature tornado. Blake walked up next to her and laid a hand on her shoulder, and the whirlwind began to ebb.

"None of that is even true..." Yang said. "The faunus and humans here were working together, equally!"

"I know Yang... but the Red Fang doesn't see it that way. Their minds just don't work right anymore. If a faunus isn't actively fighting against "human oppression," to them, they're just as bad as the humans themselves."

Yang sighed and clenched her fists, staring at the ground in contemplation.

"I already know the answer... but I just need to hear it from you." There was a small hitch in her voice as she spoke. "You don't see me that way, right? As a human that thinks all faunus are the same? After that... you know..."

Blake turned to stand in front of Yang, wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. She spoke softly.

"Yang, I've told you a hundred times, and I'll tell you again. That wasn't your fault. You had no way of knowing that the Red Fang had civilians on that ship. No one could have known."

"I know, but... I just... I killed them all Blake..." Yang shuddered in her grip. "I killed them all, every single last one." Blake felt a wetness on her shoulder, and she realized tears were falling from the blonde's eyes.

"What if... what if you were on that station, or that ship? I don't think even you could have survived that..."

"Shhh, Yang, I'm here now. We're fine. We're together. I'm here," Blake whispered, while rubbing soft circles onto Yang's back.

The incident Yang was referring to had happened a few years back, before the two of them had come to Jericho's Reach. They had been in transit, in orbit around a large hub world named Spire, when the Red Fang had hijacked a military battleship and used its cyclonic torpedoes to obliterate a nearby station. A station that had housed a population of almost two thousand civilians, all working to keep the infrastructure of a hub world intact.

In a blind fury, Yang had marched to the bridge of the freighter she and Blake were using as transport, and taken control of the vessel from the ship's Captain, at gunpoint. Blake knew that Yang needed to do this, needed to vent her fury, and she also felt the same way. So she simply stood by. Grinning madly, Yang had used the freighter as a battering ram, slamming it into the engines of the hijacked battleship as it had attempted to flee the system. As the freighter spiraled away from the collision, Yang had watched in satisfaction as the battleship's compromised engines led to a catastrophic meltdown, causing the entire vessel to lose structural integrity. As Yang and Blake fled the system in one of the freighter's unregistered shuttles, they had picked up a cry for help from the battleship, a radio transmission that was almost garbled beyond recognition. In it, the Red Fang commander had asked for any and all assistance, stating that they over five hundred innocent faunus civilians on-board that had been wrongfully accused of treason, and that rescuing them had been their original purpose. Destroying the station had only been to guarantee their escape. Yang had listened in horror as she realized the full consequences of her actions. Before they could do anything, the battleship exploded. No life-pods had been jettisoned. Five hundred innocent souls, extinguished in a split second. It had haunted her ever since.

But more than that, she had been terrified, terrified of losing Blake. Since Blake was a faunus, she had had to deal with seeing her discriminated against, even outright insulted and threatened by complete strangers. She lived in constant fear that someone would attack or kidnap Blake simply for her heritage. And if that wasn't bad enough, she also had to worry about the Red Fang, who would kill Blake simply for consorting with a human.

"I can't lose you Blake... can't... I can't face the dark without you... don't leave me.." Yang sobbed into the faunus' onyx tresses. As selfish as she realized it was, Blake was happy knowing that she was the only one that Yang would act this way around. Yang was always the big sister of Team RWBY, tough and unyielding. She never broke, never cracked, even under all the pressure in the world. At least, that's would she would have the world think. Blake knew better. Yang was a burning torch, a bright shining light in a sea of black. But as strong as her walls were, she needed to break them down for someone. And Blake had resolved long ago, that she would always be there whenever Yang needed her.

"I'm here Yang. I'm right here. Hey, look at me."

Yang looked upwards, to stare into Blake's piercing amber eyes.

"I will never leave you, Yang Xiao Long. Do you understand? I am with you. Forever. The end."

Blake used her thumbs to wipe the tears from Yang's face.

"Your face is too beautiful to for these tears..." she whispered.

Yang sniffed, wiping the rest of them off with her sleeve.

"I know, look at me, I'm just a big baby. Ugh, I'm sorry Blake."

Blake smiled gently. "You've got nothing to be sorry for sunshine. Now come on, we've got to find a way off this planet. Do you think they found the shuttle we hid in the woods?"

"Probably not," Yang said, the fire in her eyes re-ignited. "But there's something I want to do before we go."

Yang walked over to the Red Fang banner and easily wrenched it from the ground. Lifting it over her head, she tossed it like a javelin, into the blazing inferno of the town.

She stood in front of Jericho's Reach and watched it burn, remembering all the wonderful people that had called it home. People she would never see again. Blake stood beside her, squeezing her hand gently.

"What if they left a rearguard?" asked the faunus.

"I'm hoping they did."

A wicked grin formed on Yang's face.

* * *

Moving swiftly through the now smoke-filled woods, the pair quickly reached the location where they had hidden the shuttle they had used to travel to the world. The only thing was, the shuttle's engines were smashed, the landing struts were broken, and it was in a general state of, well, being on fire.

"Great. What now?" Blake sighed.

"You know, we can always just build us a log cabin out here in these woods, tell no one where we are, and live by ourselves. And have super hot se-"

"Yang, Ruby would miss you."

"Oh... right. Well I mean she could come visit!"

"But what if someone tracks her? We can't live in utter secrecy if we get visitors every year. Sorry honey."

"Yeah... you're right. Well, I figure we're stuck here for the time being, but at least we can build a small shack or somethi-mmpph!"

Blake's hand shut out and covered Yang's mouth. Her faunus ears perked up and swiveled around, searching for the source of the sound she was hearing.

"Yang, hush. I hear... yelling."

Yang's eyes grew wide. She reached up and removed the faunus' hand from her mouth.

"Which way?" she whispered.

Blake pointed off to the west, towards a particularly dense stand of trees.

"Whoever it is, they sound like they're in a hurry. We'd better be quick Yang."

"Already on it!" Yang shouted, as she started running towards the trees.

"_The way I figure it,"_ Yang thought to herself. "_They're either people who need help, in which case we'd better get there fast. No time for subtlety. Either that, or they're Red Fang. And in that case, we'd better get there even faster._"

Blake sighed in exasperation as she watched her wife take off towards the west at full pelt.

"_Yang wouldn't know subtlety if it smacked her in the face..._" she thought with a chuckle.

* * *

Bursting into a small clearing, Yang came to a dead halt as quickly as possible, pulling up short with an expression of amusement on her face. She had been hoping to find this.

Before her, five Red Fang members were staring at her in shock, still holding the crates they had been loading onto a small shuttle.

"Don't just stand there!" one of them shouted. He had a pair of what appeared to be wolf ears atop his head, and there was a shaggy grey tail hanging from his trousers. "Get her!"

The other faunus, three men and one women, dropped the gear they were holding and cautiously walked towards Yang, who stood her ground, doing her best to appear nervous and frightened.

"D-don't hurt me!" She cried out. "I'll go back the way I came..."

"Hey now, it's gonna be alright," said the female member of the group, a deer faunus with antler buds on her head. "We're not gonna hurt you."

But as she said this, Yang noticed her surreptitiously draw a dagger from a sheath on her thigh, and attempt to hold it behind her back.

"_Wow, do you really think I'm that stupid?_" Yang chuckled to herself in her head.

She stood up straight, drawing her hood back and revealing her glorious full mane of golden hair.

The man who appeared to be the leader looked surprised for a second, but quickly recovered his composure. "Oh? What happened to the scared girl from a minute ago? Do you want to die now?!" He yelled. "Is that it?"

"I feel like I should be the one asking you that question," Yang said. Then, like a burst of sunlight shining through the trees, she caught ablaze, her aura surging around her as a palpable wave of anger. The Red Fang members around her recoiled from the heat.

"Blake, now!"

And with that, five blurry black shadows materialized behind every single member of the Red Fang, plunging black blades into their backs, severing their spines. It happened in a split-second.

They crumpled to the ground without a sound, eyes open and staring up into the sky with blank expressions of horror and confusion.

Yang stood there, dumbfounded, her aura around her swirling to a halt. A black shadow materialized in front of her, and quickly formed itself into the shape of Blake.

"What? You act like you've never seen that before," she said.

Yang stood there, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"Yang? Are you okay?"

Yang managed to mutter something under her breath, but even Blake's sensitive cat ears couldn't decipher what she said.

"Yang? Yang!"

"You... you didn't..." the blonde whispered.

"What? I didn't what Yang?" Concern was evident in her tone.

Yang narrowed her eyes and fixed her wife with an intense glare, burning stars made manifest in her eyes.

"You didn't leave a single one for me!" she shouted.

Blake looked shocked for a second, and then started to snicker. Said snickers quickly escalated, and within a minute she was rolling around on the ground laughing, with tears in her eyes. She clutched her sides and laughed until she couldn't breathe, while Yang stood there, glaring at her with her arms crossed.

"Think I'm funny, huh Blake? We'll see how funny it is when I take off without you. I'll come get you in a couple years."

Yang huffed and walked towards the shuttle, Blake still struggling to catch her breath. God, her sides hurt.

Examining the ship for a second, Yang clambered inside, heading for the cockpit. It had only two seats, and the rest of the ship simply contained a small storage bay, but she figured it would do for now. Checking the fuel gauges, she started the engines and prepared the shuttle for liftoff. If Blake wasn't inside when she took off, she would leave her behind. There was no way in hell she would ever _actually_ leave Blake, but it soothed her injured pride to entertain the notion. She sat in the pilot's chair and waited, contemplating on just how much she hated spaceflight, and how good it would feel to leave Blake behind. She knew she would feel horrible about it later, she had never been able to stay angry at the faunus for more than five minutes.

Eventually, she grew tired of waiting, and stood up, stepping out of the shuttle and walking over to Blake, who was still on the ground. She wasn't laughing anymore, simply wheezing and trying to catch her breath.

Yang bent over and picked her up, throwing her over her shoulder in contempt.

"How is it you never laugh at my jokes, yet when I get angry at you for not letting me kill any Red Fang, you laugh so hard you almost kill yourself?"

Blake simply lay limp over Yang's shoulder, gasping for air.

Yang stepped into the cockpit and placed Blake into the co-pilots chair. Blake reclined and stared up at the ceiling, finally calming down. Then she glanced over at Yang, and saw her displeased expression. And broke out in another fit of laughter.

* * *

Now in orbit, Yang thumbed the button to active the shuttle's FTL drive, and leaned back with her hands behind her head as the ship shot forward, into the space between space, the time between time. She had already set a course for the nearest station, there was nothing to do now but sit and wait.

Blake stared at her, Yang refusing to return her gaze.

"Yang, honey, are you seriously still mad at me?"

Yang said nothing, pointedly staring out the window, as the black emptiness of FTL space played strange shadows across the cockpit.

"Yang, please, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Yang simply huffed. And an idea occurred to Blake.

"You know..." the faunus said, gazing backwards at the cargo bay, her voice lowering seductively. "I think I saw some rope in the hold... if you start talking to me again, I might just let you use it on me tonight..."

This seemed to have an affect on Yang, her cheeks turning pink as she imagined a tied up and struggling Blake, completely at her mercy...

"C'mon Yang, you know you want to..."

That did it. Making up her mind, Yang stood up, dragging Blake with her. Pushing the faunus backwards, she pinned the raven-haired girl's arms up above her head and brought her face an inch from Blake's, the faunus involuntarily leaning forward to try and kiss the blonde. Yang drew her head back before their lips could meet.

"Uh uh uh, kitty cat. We're gonna do this my way. You asked for this."

Blake gazed at Yang, her eyes full of lust and passion. She bit her lower lip and moaned as Yang brought her knee up in between the faunus' legs, rubbing it up and down slowly.

"You may, or may not enjoy this," Yang whispered. "Now get down on your knees, and crawl over to the bay, and bring me the rope, with your mouth." The faunus mewled softly and nodded in compliance. Yang's tone brooked no argument.

* * *

A few hours later, the pair lay in the shuttle's only bed, on top of their sleeping bag of course. Who knew what the Red Fang had used it for previously.

They weren't clothed, but it wasn't embarrassing or immodest in any way. Simply two people deeply in love, enjoying being as close to each-other as they possibly could. Even their auras had fused, slowly melding together over hundreds of years. Their souls were intertwined in every sense of the word.

They simply lay there in silence, Blake curled around Yang, enjoying the calming warmth the blonde was radiating, who was running her fingers through the faunus' hair slowly.

Blake's tail had wrapped itself around Yang's leg, and she was purring deep and throatily, a soft smile of contentment on her face.

Neither of them spoke a word, neither of them had to. They had said it all hundreds of thousands of times. But Blake figured she might as well be sure...

"I love you Yang. More than life itself."

"Hmm. I love you too Blake. And, uh, ditto."

"Ditto? Really?"

"Yeah, you know, I couldn't really top the "more than life itself" part so uh, ditto?"

"Yang, you're an big, dumb, blonde idiot sometimes."

But all the same, she snuggled into the blonde just a bit more.

"But I guess you're my idiot..."

"Wouldn't have it any other way kitten. Love you."

"You already said that. Love you too."

* * *

_**Here you go, Bumblebee fans. This is my first attempt writing Blake or Yang, please tell me how it went. Also, I'm particularly proud of how well *I think* I wrote the opening scene, and if anyone wanted to provide some feedback on it, that'd be great. If you guys want, I could write more of this AU. I have a lot of fun with it, simply because I love writing about space, and just sci-fi in general. **_

_**Oh, also, I changed a few parts of the first chapter. I wrote in Ruby having a robotic arm, something I forgot to do the first time around. I plan on writing about how she got it later, and why Weiss blames herself for it. It's on day 36, check it out.**_

_**Anyway, thanks for stopping by, please drop a review, and enjoy the rest of your day. Unless you're reading this at night, and in that case, go to sleep you dunce.**_


	3. Chapter 3 - Binary System

_**"For as long as there been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. This perspective is a courageous continuation of our penchant for constructing and testing mental models of the skies; the Sun as a red-hot stone, the stars as a celestial flame, the Galaxy as the backbone of night." - Carl Sagan.**_

* * *

_Day 214_

Ruby sat in contemplation, gazing out of the cockpit of the _Rebellious Rose_ from her seat in the pilot's chair. She wore a form-fitting black shirt that highlighted her defined abs and a pair of grey cargo pants. Her hair was longer than usual; she had decided to try growing it out again during the interim period she had spent with Weiss. Her bangs hung down over her forehead, and long black strands tipped with crimson reached down to her shoulders. It was spiky in places, messy looking and yet not at the same time.

She flexed her robotic arm experimentally, a slight whirring sound emitting from the glossy black metal as the hydraulics and gears responded to the unconscious commands from her brain. It responded just as well as a regular arm would, and Ruby had quickly found that having a fist made of solid metal was a devastating thing when your semblance could propel said fist beyond the speed of light.

She rested her chin on her fist and shifted her gaze to a view-screen that hung just above the cockpit's viewport. In it, magnified by almost a hundred times, was the image of a slowly rotating space station. It was gunmetal grey and shaped like an isosceles triangle. It rose vertically at the base, which was where the majority of the docking bays and storage areas were located. Silhouetted against a pale yellow gas giant with an astounding ring system, it was a welcome sight for the two bounty hunters.

Further off in the distance she could see the twin blue suns of the Akiainavas system. Each star orbited the other, locked in a gravitational embrace and distorting each others mutual stellar atmosphere. By exchanging mass with each other, the two stars were able to achieve stages of stellar evolution that single stars could not attain by themselves.

_"Heh, kind of like Weiss and myself,"_ Ruby thought. _"Binary stars are so cool..."_

She had matured since her time at Beacon, even though physically she was perpetually twenty-four. Some things never changed however; she was still prone to bouts of inattentiveness and "childish behavior," as Weiss would put it. But when she spoke her voice was smoky and melodic, the aural representation of distant rain-clouds on the horizon.

"How long Weiss?"

The white-haired girl sitting to Ruby's left pressed her hand to a touchscreen in front of her, pulling up relevant information and dismissing that which was not pertinent to their situation. She manipulated the data with clarity and grace, fingers sweeping across the screen in an elegant display of fine motor skills.

Weiss' voice on the other hand, was just as high-pitched and brittle as always. But even so, it conveyed a certain elegance.

"Still three hours Ruby. Just like the last time you asked."

"Pfft, it was four hours last time."

"Three hours and forty-eight minutes. You can't just round that down to three."

"I can do whatever I want," Ruby said as she stuck her tongue out at Weiss.

The other girls eyes narrowed, not even taking them off of the screen in front of her.

"You're gonna lose your tongue if you keep doing that," she threatened.

"Oh yeah right, you'd never cut off my tongue."

"Wouldn't I? You think me one for idle threats Ruby?"

The brunette smirked; her partner still couldn't see where she was going with this.

"No, but if you cut off my tongue, I couldn't do that thing you like so much..."

Weiss' cheeks took on a deep shade of red, and she stared at Ruby in incredulity.

"I can't believe you! How vulgar, how, how utterly perverted of you to-"

"Weiss, quiet real quick."

"No! I will not be-"

"Seriously, hush, the station's contacting us."

Weiss let her mouth hang open for a few moments more as she glared at Ruby, her burning gaze fit to melt sheet metal. But then she huffed in indignation and stared straight ahead, folding her arms across her chest.

Ruby reached out and pressed a small blinking button on one of the touchscreens near her, and it brought up an image of a man in his late-forties with close-cropped black hair, hastily typing something into his holographic keyboard. He noticed the connection was made, and spoke into the device on his collar.

"Inbound ship, this is Peralta Station. Identify yourself and your intent."

"Hi there sir!" Ruby responded cheerfully. "I'm Captain Ashelynn Reiner, and this is my co-pilot, the lovely miss Kiara D'Angelos. The ship approaching you is the _Harvest Moon, _registry number JF-M0600243, and we're just here to re-fuel and pick up some supplies."

The man hastily typed on his holographic keyboard, the glare of the screen giving his face a strange white cast to it. Weiss gave him a distrusting look, all while pulling up information about Peralta Station.

"...Right, your registry checks out, you've got permission to dock. Please divert to docking bay... let's see here. Ah, docking bay 12 And be careful, the guide lights are out in that section of the station. Just take it slow."

"Heh, about that mister. We're sort of, well, out of fuel. Soooo we're gonna need a tug to pull us in."

"None of my business," the man stated, "But that'll mean a sizable extra fee on top of your docking and refueling charges. You okay with that?"

"We'll be just fine sir. Thanks a ton!"

"Yeah, a ton will be about what a tow into the station'll cost ya. It'll meet you halfway. Peralta Station out."

With that the image disappeared from the screen. Ruby turned in her chair to face Weiss, a small smile on her face.

"He seemed nice at least," she said.

"Even so," Weiss replied, "the rest of the station isn't. This place is a run-down outpost; the only people who willingly come here are smugglers and other unsavory types. I say we refuel and leave as soon as possible."

"Aw, that's no fun! C'mon, what if someone here has a bounty? We wouldn't want to miss out on that, would we?"

Weiss sighed, finally deigning to meet Ruby's gaze. The brunette had turned her seat so that the back of it was facing Weiss, and she had her hands and chin propped up on it while she swung her legs back and forth.

"Ruby, we don't even need the money. Just because you love the thrill of the chase," she said with air quotes, "doesn't mean we need to rush into something we're not prepared for. We need to pick our battles, not the other way around."

"Ugh, fine," Ruby said as she let her head hang over the top of the chair. But then an idea struck her, and she lifted it back up to gaze questioningly at her wife.

"Well how about a meal then? Can we just get something to eat there? I'm sure there's a bar or something, and it would be good to stretch our legs."

Weiss swiped through the info on the station, pulling up the listings of stores and vendors.

"Conveniently, there happens to be a bar a short distance from our berth. We can eat there if you'd like."

"Yes please!" Ruby said enthusiastically. "I mean your cooking is amazing and all, but I want to try something new."

At this, Weiss' eyes narrowed.

"Don't be mad?" Ruby said sheepishly. "I promise I'll pay you back in snuggles..."

The white-haired looked over at her wife, trying hard to resist the puppy dog stare Ruby had put on.

"Dolt. You can't even go a single night without snuggling with me. How are you going to use that as a reward system when its something you can't do without in the first place?"

Ruby spun in her chair, hanging her head backwards to look at Weiss upside-down as her long black hair pooled on the metal decking.

"You say that like you can go without snuggles too. I _know_ you need them just as much as me. You couldn't sleep by yourself if you tried."

Weiss knew as much, but her stubborn pride refused to let her acknowledge that fact. She _could_ go without snuggling for a night, and she _would_ prove it.

"Fine then. Have it your way Ruby, no cuddling tonight. I'll sleep on one side of the bed, and you sleep on the other. No physical contact allowed."

Ruby was flabbergasted; her mouth hung open in disbelief. In retrospect, she should've known Weiss would have risen to her challenge.

"Bu-bu, but..."

"No buts! I'll prove it this time, I don't _need_ to snuggle with you."

Ruby whimpered and hung her head, spinning her chair around again. This time however, she lost her grip and crashed to the floor.

* * *

The _Rebellious Rose_ drifted inexorably onwards, the ever-growing silhouette of Peralta station barely becoming visible against the pale-yellow gas giant, Akiainavas VII. In the distance, the white bursting flower of the Gardenia nebula hung amongst the stars; twinkling points of light in an infinite ocean of jet black.

Ruby strolled down the exit ramp of the _Rose_ with Weiss beside her. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a peaked collar over a red shirt and a matching pair of black skinny jeans. Weiss on the other hand, was clad in a white-long sleeved shirt with a light blue scarf and fitted white dress pants. Her hair was back its customary off-center ponytail, while Ruby's long hair hung just past her shoulder, her bangs covering one side of her face. They exited the dingy, dimly lit hangar and Weiss purposefully strode onwards towards the customs and registration kiosk down the hall that led into main thoroughfare of Peralta station. That was normally the white-haired girls area of expertise: paperwork and the like. Her much more business focused mind had an easier time of such things. Ruby took her time, strolling down the long hallway connecting the various hangars to the entrance of the station proper, and glancing around at her surroundings.

The prevalent color scheme appeared to be grey and dim green. The walls were a dark grey, made up of welded plates of steel and other materials haphazardly patched together. Bulbous protrusions stuck out from the wall at irregular intervals, giving the aesthetics of the station an organic feel. Circular tubes of green fluorescent material attached to the ceiling provided less-than-adequate lighting. They cast strange shadows, giving the hallway a muted yet relaxed feel. The air was fresh at least, and Ruby could hear the ventilation systems struggling to provide newcomers to the station with a good first impression. She stopped momentarily as a green light fixture next to her sparked and sputtered, but shrugged and walked onwards. As far as space stations went, she had seen far worse.

She reached the end of the long hallway just as Weiss finished finalizing things with the customs official, and she beckoned Ruby over.

"Right, so we're cleared to enter. I already paid the docking and towing fees, and the customs official assured me that a record of our stay would not be made, after a hefty bribe of course. As for the layout of the station, it's separated into multiple levels and from what I can ascertain the higher you go, the better the conditions. Peralta Station is pretty much just a refueling outpost, one of the last before you enter the frontier, but they've got a pretty sizable gambling enterprise as well. The interior is actually pretty large, even big enough to hold buildings the size of skyscrapers on the main levels. Thankfully that bar you wanted to go to is near the middle of the station close to here. Was there anything else?"

"Nope," Ruby replied. "I already activated the _Rose_'s security, she'll be fine. Now let's get to the bar! I'm starving!" As if to back up her point, her stomach chose that exact moment to emit a plaintive rumble.

Weiss looked at her with a grimace, then calmly slipped her hand into Ruby's. "Fine then, I remember the way. And if I'm being honest, I'm pretty hungry myself. But, I rented a hotel for the night, and as soon as we finish eating we're heading right there. We haven't slept in three days remember?"

"Sounds great!" Ruby said with a bright smile. "Hopefully the food is good. Lead the way Weiss-erooni!"

The white-haired woman stopped in her tracks, looking back at her wife incredulously. Ruby simply smiled at her, her grin stretching across her face.

"You are _such_ a dolt, you know that?"

* * *

The nearly overpowering smells of grease and alcohol greeted the two women as they stepped through the neon-rimmed entrance of the bar known as _Tibus Heth_'s. Weiss wrinkled her nose in disgust, while Ruby grinned and pulled the other woman inside by her hand. The bar was dimly lit with the same green and grey lighting, and a thin haze of smoke filled the air. To the left was the bar proper, a long steel counter-top that ran along the wall. Various bottles of alcohol sat on the wall behind it, while the bartender himself barely spared them a glance. To the right were various booths and tables, and Ruby quickly led them to a solitary booth near the back corner. She sat down facing the entrance, while Weiss sat with her back to it. Ruby liked to always be facing the main entry point of the restaurant; it allowed her to observe who went in and out and to watch for potential threats.

The place definitely wasn't empty, but it wasn't exactly crowded either. The perfect background noise of idle chatter radiated throughout the room, not quiet enough to seem menacing and not loud enough to be overbearing. A comfortable sensation.

A waitress stopped by their table and handed them their menus, and they placed their orders and waited. Ruby laid her human hand atop the table, and Weiss placed her own upon it, squeezing it softly. They simply stared at each-other for a few minutes, reflecting on how they had come to this point. And one thousand years was a lot to reflect upon. If you asked either one of them if immortality was worth it, even with all the hardship and pain, they would have affirmed that yes, it was without a second thought, even if only for the other person sitting across the table from them.

Soon enough though, Ruby broke the silence. "So whaddya wanna do next? I imagine you probably want to go do something exciting, after all that time we spent cooped up in the _Rose_."

"Oh you know me Ruby, I'm _always_ up for more gunfire and explosions. Senseless yelling and screaming too, can't get enough of it." Weiss didn't even have to attempt to sound sarcastic, but her voice was practically dripping with it. It was a technique she had mastered long ago.

"Well what then?" Ruby replied, completely unfazed. "Do you want to go somewhere fun, or take a vacation or something?"

The waitress brought them their meals: a hamburger and milk for Ruby and a salad and water for Weiss. The burger was a giant patty of meat dripping in grease, covered in lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and bacon, and Ruby eyed it hungrily. Weiss looked on in disgust.

"You're_ actually_ going to eat that disgusting monstrosity aren't you."

"Are you actually going to eat that bland tasteless salad?" Ruby replied as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation. "Alright meat! Time to meet your doom!"

Ruby picked up the burger with both hands, noting with satisfaction how grease dripped from it as she squeezed the buns together and took a bite.

Weiss didn't even touch her salad; she simply stared incredulously at Ruby as the brunette attempted to shove the entire burger into her mouth.

"Hmmrygod Wreiss, dis ish sho good!" She swallowed, then continued. "Hey, you haven't even touched your salad yet."

The white-haired woman pushed the offending dish away from herself.

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"Geez, stop being such a picky eater. Here, try some of this!"

Weiss opened her mouth to protest, but before she could Ruby lunged forward and shoved a piece of the hamburger into her mouth. Weiss shrieked and jumped backwards, but all of a sudden she stopped and her eyes glazed over. She started chewing ever so slowly, and her shoulders slumped forward slightly as she lost herself in the taste of the hamburger.

Ruby giggled uncontrollably as Weiss succumbed to the burger from heaven.

"Ahaha! W-Weiss do you love hamburgers that much, or have you just not eaten anything greasy for the past hundred years?!" At this, she devolved into another fit of laughter.

Meanwhile, Weiss finished chewing the meat and swallowed almost reluctantly. She glared at Ruby with all the intensity and fury she could muster, but watching her wife laugh uncontrollably was making her quickly lose her cool.

"R-Ruby stop, you're causing a scene, people are staring at us!"

Indeed, several of the bars patrons were sending curious glances over towards the back corner where the couple sat.

Weiss couldn't help herself. She snickered and tried to stop, but before long she was laughing wildly along with her wife. Ruby's honest laugh was just so _darn_ contagious.

The two of them were bent over the table, unable to stop the guffaws and tears of mirth streaming from their eyes. Ruby pounded her fist on the table, struggling to breathe. At this point neither of them remembered what they were laughing about, but it didn't really make a difference.

After an unknown period of time, eventually the laughter slowed down. Ruby clutched her sides and gasped for air, while Weiss laid back on the bench and wiped the tears from her eyes. The white-haired woman sat up and attempted to glare at Ruby, but couldn't keep a small grin from forming on her face.

"How did I ever fall in love with a dolt like you?" Weiss asked.

"Oh you know, it was my blistering good looks and unresistable charm."

"Mmhmm. Ruby, you may be a lot of things, but overflowing with charm and wit is not one of them."

"What! I have plenty of charm!"

"Oh yeah? Then why are you sleeping by yourself tonight?"

Ruby gasped, dumbstruck by the possibility that Weiss might still going through with her threat. "I thought you'd forget about that! There's no way you'll actually sleep without me... right?"

Weiss stared her down and mouthed the words "watch me."

Ruby slumped over and let her head hit the table with a groan.

"Uh... Ruby?" Weiss asked with a hint of nervousness.

"Yes?" Ruby replied, her voice muffled by the table.

"...Are you going to finish that hamburger?"

"...Yeap. And you don't get a single bite. _Unless_ you snuggle with me tonight."

"Well then, I guess I'm just going to have to order a hamburger of my own," Weiss said with disdain.

"Fine. I'll get the waitress, I need a refill on my milk anyway."

"You can't grow anymore you dolt. Why do you keep drinking that stuff?"

"I dunno," Ruby replied with a smirk. "Force of habit I guess."

Ruby looked around the smoky green-tinted bar for the waitress. Just then however, a small crowd walked in. They quickly separated and moved to different tables, but something had caught Ruby's eye through the haze. A shock of golden-blonde hair, peeking through a dark grey hoodie. Not many people had hair of that color, and even fewer traveled with a raven-haired faunus woman whose gaze was currently roaming the bar.

Ruby and Blake's eyes met, and the glint of recognition in them quickly led to happily surprised smiles. The faunus nudged her partner, and a grin a mile wide lit up the blonde's face as she spotted her sister.

"Weiss, you'll never guess who's here!"

"The waitress?" she replied dryly.

"Nope! Yaaaang!"

The blonde brawler dove into the booth, practically tackling Ruby. She took off her hood and wrapped her younger sister in a back-breaking hug.

"Rubyrubyruby! I missed you soooo much! Ooh, growing your hair out? I like it!"

"Hrrgh, y-you say that every time we meet up!"

"Yeah and it's always true! Hey Weiss!"

"Hi Yang." Weiss said with a smile. "Please try not to crush my wife."

"She'd probably try to kill you if that happened," Blake said as she slid into the booth on Weiss' side.

"Oof, Yang get off me, I wanna go sit by Weiss now!"

Ruby tried to shove her sister off of her, Yang grinning as she rooted herself in place by gripping the table.

"Yang, don't be mean," Blake interjected, a knowing smirk on her face. "Let her sit by her Weiss-y." That earned a glare from the former heiress. "Plus, don't you want to sit by me?" She asked in mock dejectedness.

"I know kitty-cat, I'm just playing around. Man, we haven't seen each-other in, what has it been, three years now? Back on Kelleon?"

"Ah, Kelleon," Weiss said with a sigh. "The world of overpopulated cities, eye-watering pollution, and backed-up sewage systems. I meant it when I said we're never going back."

"Oh, no problem over here," said Yang, as she got out of the booth to allow Ruby to slide into the other side to sit with Weiss. "I was just as happy to get out of there as you were."

"I don't think any of us were as happy as she was," Blake said as she sat down beside Yang. "Remember when she threatened the hotel manager with Myrenaster?"

"Oohoo yeah that was hilarious! I don't even remember why you did it though, wasn't it something to do with your bed?"

"The sheets hadn't been washed," Ruby said. "And that was after there was no running water, the fridge was busted, and the air conditioning kept shooting out gusts of hot air. So yeah, she got really mad."

"All completely justifiable," Weiss said as she picked at her nails. "It worked, didn't it? He gave us a new room, this time with the things you'd expect from a hundred-twenty credit rental. I'm just mortified that he tried to swindle us that like in the first place."

"So anyway, what are you two doing here?" Yang asked. "Me and Blake-"

"Blake and I," Weiss interjected. Ruby giggled and Yang shot her a pointed glare in reply, but there was a glint of humor behind it.

"Yes your _highnessness,_" Yang said with a mock posh accent. "Blake and I were just stopping here on our way to the Weylandir system to check out a research outpost that's gone dark. One of the local corporations by the name of Perimeter Enterprises runs the place, and I guess they were doing some kind of spatial research. Their security is tied up with that bombing on Heirondor, and they put out the job out in an open contract. They didn't really tell us much, they just want us to check it out and report back. It's probably just a comms problem, it's in a secure dead-space complex and that kind of crap happens all the time. Hey, if you guys want you could tag along! I know it's probably nothing, but Blake has one of her feelings and we could probably use the backup. It'd be just like we're Team RWBY again!"

"Weiss and m... I mean Weiss and I," Ruby said while withering under her wife's blistering glare, "were actually just here to refuel and get some repairs done. We uh, kinda got into a bad fight and lost our warp drive, and... well we've been drifting for the past like, two hundred days. We just got here yesterday actually!"

"That is one incredibly improbable coincidence," Blake said. "That you two got here on the exact day that we did, and that we just happened to pick the exact bar to eat at?"

"I dunno, maybe it's the hand of fate or something," Ruby said with a laugh. "But yeah, I think it'd be cool if we tagged along. We don't really have anything better to do while the _Rose_ is getting fixed up. How many jumps away is the... Wylandy system or whatever?"

"Weylandir," Blake said. "And it's three jumps away. This job shouldn't take more than a day."

"That's good then," Weiss replied. "The repairs to the _Rose_ will probably take a few days, less if Ruby works on it herself."

"Hey I know she's my baby and all, but even I gotta take a break sometimes. If the repair shop screws it up you can just stab em' all with Myrenaster anyway."

"Not that I'm particularly opposed to that idea, but I doubt the station officials would be as understanding," Weiss said. "Yang, Blake, do you two have a place to stay? Ruby and I are about to retire for the night."

Yang spoke up first. "Yeah, we got a nice little hotel a few levels up. We only woke up a few hours ago, so we're probably gonna do some shopping and what-not before we turn in. We bought a nice shuttle for this job, but it's just something we're using while we look for a better ship. I'm thinking a destroyer this time, so we can-"

"Yang, for the last time, we are not getting a destroyer," Blake interjected. "We'd have to hire a crew to be able to run it effectively. And crews ask questions."

Yang pouted, resting her head on the table and looking up pleadingly at her wife. "You just don't want one because you can't handle the idea of me flying around something with eight autocannons."

"That too." Blake said, completely unfazed by Yang's forlorn expression. "I keep telling you, we really should get a frigate capable of mounting a covert ops cloak."

"Yeah but those are no fun, who wants to sneak around all the time and-"

***ahem* **

Weiss cleared her throat pointedly, looking at Blake and Yang with annoyance. "If you two are done arguing about what flying hunk of metal you're going to get blown up next, I'm quite tired and I'm sure Ruby is too. We've been up for almost three days now. Also, it's almost four in the morning."

Yang glanced over at Ruby; the brunette was slumped over and drooling on the remains of her hamburger.

"Wait, why the hell were you guys up for three days if you were just drifting?"

"Well there was the repairs, adjusting the thrusters to bring us into the station, updating nav co-ordinates and bookmarks, and... other things," she finished with a small blush.

"Ah, I getcha. _Other things_, huh?" Yang said with a wink. Weiss refused to meet her eye. "Well just meet us at bay seven tomorrow at, I dunno, let's do noon."

"I suppose that's manageable," Weiss muttered. "It was good to see you both again."

Blake and Yang both smiled. "Likewise," they said at the same time.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda!" Yang shouted, and the faunus woman shook her head in exasperation. "Oh and we're still gonna stay and order something, so we'll get the bill."

Weiss grasped Ruby by the shoulder and shook her lightly. "I appreciate it. Ruby, come on, let's go to bed."

The brunette woke with a jolt, wiping the drool from her chin and glancing around wildly. "Oh, heh heh, my bad. Yeah we should probably hit the sack. Yang! Gimme a hug! You too Blake!"

The four girls stood up and exchanged hugs, Weiss' and Blake's being less spine-crushing but no less heartfelt than Ruby's and Yang's.

Yang relocated to the bar, dragging her wife with her as Weiss practically carried a sleep-deprived Ruby out of the bar.

Yang sat down on an empty stool, smiling as Blake sat beside her. "So uh, instead of a soda... how 'bout you buy me a beer instead?"

"No."

* * *

Ruby stepped out of the shower, drying her hair with a towel as she walked into the hotel room and making sure to sway her hips. Weiss was on the room's only bed, scrolling through her data-pad as she reviewed Schnee Dust Industries' latest earnings and losses. She looked up at Ruby as the brunette strode into the room, preparing to say something, but was reduced to stuttering and blushing when she saw her wife's state of dress.

"R-Ruby! Put some clothes on!"

Ruby turned and blew a kiss at her, winking seductively as she did so. Weiss' mouth gaped open in shock, and she felt her heart begin to beat rapidly. The brunette turned around and bent at the waist, leaning down far slower than necessary to pick up her sleeping clothes. The other woman blushed furiously and buried her face in her data-pad, trying and failing to immerse herself in the world of profits and expenditures. She couldn't help but peek at Ruby as she dressed herself though, trying to look as uninterested as possible.

"So are you really gonna make me sleep by myself tonight?" Ruby said as she pulled a black tank top over her chest.

"Yes! Especially with this little... stunt you're trying to pull!"

"Stunt? I have no idea what you're talking about." Ruby took a pillow from the foot of the bed, laid it on the sofa and then flopped down on it facing the wall. "Suit yourself then. Goodnight Weiss."

"...Goodnight Ruby."

* * *

Weiss sighed softly, rolling over onto her side and glancing over at the blue holographic numbers projected into the darkness by the hotel room's alarm clock.

4:16 AM.

And still, sleep escaped her. She laid on the bed, a single sheet upon her and her snow-white hair splayed out over it. She gazed into the shrouded obscurity of the pitch-black hotel room, towards the couch where she knew the sleeping form of Ruby lay. She was already regretting her determination to sleep by herself for the night. She didn't necessarily want to, but the white-haired woman was a prideful person if there ever was one, and once she set her mind on something she did it, even at the cost to herself and others. Plus, she had to prove Ruby wrong somehow. She didn't want to seem ungrateful to her wife, but she had to prove to herself that she was still a strong, independent woman who didn't have to rely on anyone else for to be content.

Although deep down, she knew she was lying to herself. She _needed_ Ruby, like a flame needs oxygen to keep burning.

She rolled back over, looking through the sheer curtains at the sight beyond them. The hotel room they were in was located high, high up above the street. Small speeders and hovercraft whizzed by, a steady stream of traffic restricted to invisible lanes. Distant skyscrapers and buildings stretched off into the distance; a crowded forest of steel and stone. The green glow that was prevalent in the station was everywhere: shining from lights embedded in the buildings, emanating from the bright neon signs of the street bottom far below, reflecting off of the darkened windows around her.

She had thought that gazing out upon the interior of the station would occupy her wandering mind, yet somehow it only made her feel more alone. Out there were thousands of humans and faunus, walking, laughing, crying, breathing. Living, going along with their daily lives, taking comfort in each-other or in the solace of a bottle. Fellow travelers like her, lost and adrift in the darkness of a galaxy that was often cold and unfriendly. And yet as similar as they were, she knew that if she were to die that night, not a single soul out there would know or care.

With the exception of Yang and Blake, she knew that there was only one person in the universe that she truly mattered to. One bright soul that mattered to her just as much, that she would do anything for, that she loved with every last shred of her heart. Her soul-mate, in the literal sense of the word. Over the years their souls had actually grown so close they had actually intertwined in a symbiotic relationship where they drew power from and supported each-other. It is said that aura is the essence of the soul made manifest, and Ruby's and Weiss' auras were so much more powerful when they were together. Ruby had literally become her other half, so much so that when they were apart she felt a profound, unexplainable emptiness. Like she was missing a part of herself.

She sighed, lost in thought, reflecting on how much Ruby had done for her and just how the course of her life had changed because of one simple action. One small decision that had changed everything forever. That day in the Emerald Forest, when Weiss had come back to Ruby. Her mind ran through the myriad possibilities that could have branched out from her decision. She could have partnered up with Jaune.

_"Ew, no."_

She could have kept looking, perhaps found and teamed up with Pyrrha as per her original plan. Yet for reasons she was still unsure of, she had found her way back to Ruby and dragged her off into the forest with her. She had figured that she would be lucky if the next four years of her life were simply tolerable. Now, a thousand years later, she still didn't feel like she would ever grow tired of being with Ruby.

_"And oh, how wrong I was about her,"_ Weiss thought to herself. _"Ruby was never anything but kind and caring towards me, like no one else ever was. Even when I pushed her away..." _She looked back into the gloom of the hotel room, towards the sleeping form of the brunette. _"Just like I am now... Why am I such a stubborn fool sometimes? She doesn't deserve to be treated like this, and I don't deserve her period... I'm sorry Ruby." _

Even though she could hear he wife's quiet breathing, she needed more. She needed to hold her, to feel Ruby's skin against her own. Pride be damned.

Moving as quietly as possible she slipped out of the bed, the sheets rustling slightly as the soft fabric slid from her nightgown.

* * *

Ruby yawned, trying to keep her body as still as possible. She was lying on her side facing the wall, and she didn't want Weiss to see that she was still awake; it would only serve to bother her. If Weiss wanted to prove that she could sleep by herself for a night, then Ruby would do everything she could to support her. She would do anything she could to see her wife succeed in her endeavors.

_"Still, I hope she's not mad at me..." _Ruby thought._ "She seemed pretty serious when she said goodnight. Maybe she was just trying to act like she didn't care? Oh Weiss, you're so darn stubborn sometimes. And now here we are, two idiots lying awake trying to pretend that they can sleep without eachother. Would she forgive me if I got in bed with her? Would she care? What if she wants me to come to her, but she's too prideful to say it? Why does this have to be so difficult? We've been together for almost a thousand years, you'd think we'd have figured this whole relationship thing out by now." _

The air conditioning in the room was on nearly its coldest setting; Weiss liked the air to be chilled while she slept. Ruby shivered and tried to pull her blanket tighter around herself with as little actual movement as possible. The black tank top and boxer shorts she was wearing didn't do the best job of keeping her warm. She heard a rustling noise from behind her, like Weiss was getting out of the bed. She froze, squeezing her eyes shut and willing her body not to move an inch.

She jolted suddenly when she felt a pair of arms slide themselves around her waist, and a warm body press itself up against her own. As happily surprised as she was, she tried not to move a muscle.

"I know you're awake."

"No I'm not!" Ruby whispered harshly. "...Uh, crap. Sorry?"

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I'm sorry for trying to make you sleep alone. I know you probably need this as much as I do..." Weiss turned Ruby around so that they were facing each other, smiling softly as the brunette immediately nuzzled into her neck, inhaling the familiar scent of wildflowers. Ruby wrapped her mechanical arm around Weiss' waist and cradled her head with the other. This was what she needed. What they both needed.

"So aren't you going to say anything about me being wrong?" Weiss asked in a whisper as she slowly ran her fingers through her wife's soft hair.

"Nope," Ruby said cheerfully.

"...That's it?"

"Yeap."

She sighed. "I don't deserve you Ruby Rose."

"Oh hush Weiss, it isn't about what either of us deserve. What matters is that I want you. And that I love you more than anything. I chose that, I chose you. Screw what I deserve, or what you deserve. We _chose_ eachother."

Weiss didn't say anything, but instead pulled Ruby just a little closer, hoping it would convey her unspoken message of gratitude. Her wife had always had a way of quelling her anxieties before they could fully form. She was glad it was dark, otherwise Ruby would have quickly noticed the huge blush on her cheeks. How was it that she could do this to her after almost a thousand years?

"Hey Weiss?"

"...Yes Ruby?"

"I love you." It wasn't so much a declaration as it was the statement of an undeniable fact.

"...I love you too. Now go to sleep, you big dolt."

Ruby giggled, softly pressing her lips against her wife's before moving her head back to nuzzle into the crook of her neck.

"But I'm your dolt," she whispered.

* * *

_**So I figure I should clarify the importance and the frequency with which I'll be updating this story. It's the centerpiece of my modest little Space AU, and Bloodbirds, Melted Ice, and my upcoming stories about how Ruby and Weiss fall in love, and then the search for/battle with the Grimm Lord are all companion stories to this one. The White Nebula is the centerpiece; the cornerstone and the main effort of this AU. As such, it's going to be updated on the indiscernible schedule of whenever-I-feel-like-it. Probably in between chapters of my upcoming story about Ruby and Weiss falling in love at Beacon.**_

_**At the time of me writing this, RWBY Season 2 premieres in two days. I'm feeling this strange blend of crippling anxiety, soul-shattering dread, and spine-tingling excitement. I don't really let myself think about what might happen, primarily between Weiss and Ruby, because the last time I did I ended up screaming and hyper-ventilating into my pillow for the better part of a minute. I know for a fact that Bumblebee is gonna be debunked, but rest assured I will find a way to work around that, specifically by writing the (gruesome) death of whoever Monty misguidedly decides to pair Blake and Yang up with. Now as for Whiterose... all I know is that there's still hope. But hey, hope is a forlorn thing.  
**_

_**I'd like a bit of feedback on whether the whole premise of this is plausible or not. Like when you think about an AU where they kill the primogenitor of the Grimm and become immortal, do you think it sounds like it could happen, or do you just immediately think of how stupid that sounds and how it doesn't even make sense.  
**_

_**So if you liked it, didn't like it, or thought it was dumb, please leave a review telling me why. Hell, just review period. It makes my day :D**_


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